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nTranslator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_

nAbout fifteen or sixteen people on horses were gathered on the outskirts of Eastwood Town.

nThese people were obviously unfamiliar with the region. They moved all over the places and from time to time, ridiculous incidents such as their horse’s hooves getting stuck into the paddy field happened.

n“Master Four, such a weird place, we better not have gone to the wrong area.” One of the offspring of the Xu people held up the torch and illuminated the area before him. A rice paddy field filled their eyes as far as they could see.

n“It’s all flat ground here, how could we have gone to the wrong place?” Xu Sihai berated him.

nThe offspring’s mouth twitch and he did not dare to answer. Inwardly, he was suspicious since how could this place be a flat land where one could gallop straight across? Hopefully, they won’t lose their way in here.

n“Everyone, stay alert. Don’t cause the horse to fall in any pitfalls,” Xu Sihai reminded them, “From Gou Sheng’s map, the Qin’s land are not far from here.”

nAlthough Xu Sihai was acting tough, inwardly, he was regretting. He should have never chosen this route earlier. He had initially thought that this outskirt route would be easy to escape. And even if people of the Qin had received news and came back, this route would not be the first one they would come after.

nHe thought it was a good plan. However, he had never expected that the conditions of the road would be unfavourable to the running horses. Thus, it had significantly affected their movements.

n“I wonder how well Patriarch, and his people had finished the task? Since the Patriarch and Uncle Yue went there, they would have definitely broken into the Qin home easily. I must speed up. They most likely have already finished their tasks. And we can not fall behind on our end!”

nXu Sihai pondered the situation for a moment, then he urged them again: “Everyone, a little bit more and we will be there. Whoever dares to be lazy and drag us down, will be treated as a criminal.”

nAt this time, one of his people that was walking in the rear of the team ran over gasping for breath. He shouted: “Master Four, Little Xiang has disappeared.”

n“Disappeared? Where did he go?” Xu Sihai could not understand. They were only a team of dozens of people, how could anyone have vanished?

n“I…I don’t know.” That person said shamefully.

n“You don’t know?” Xu Sihai’s eyes opened wide, “We are on a flat road, how could you not know where he has gone? Do you at least know when he had disappeared?”

n“This…I also have no idea.” The head of that person dropped down almost to his pants.

n“Useless!” Xu Sihai cursed and jumped down from his horse. He swore: “He has definitely fallen into a ditch and gone to sleep. Everyone, let’s turn back and look for him.”

nIn the Xu family, this Little Xiang was also a promising young offspring. At this moment, the family must protect such a young prospect.

nEveryone felt somewhat unhappy when they heard they had to return to look. However, they had no choice but to do so.

nHowever, they did not see a single sign of anyone after walking back for a while.

nXu Sihai was not an idiot. He felt a vivid sense of unease. He waved his hand and shouted: “Let’s stop, everyone stay alert and watch each other. Don’t stray too far from your comrades.”

nPeople of the Xu were all surprised when they heard Xu Sihai’s words. They looked around in the darkness with caution as if a murderous spectre had hidden within this night sky. Everyone felt their blood run cold.

nAfter some more walking, another person suddenly yelled: “A‘Le is gone.”

nAnother lonely horse with its rider missing. And there had been no shadow nor trace of anyone having done the deed.

nAs for how had the person had disappeared, regardless of how much Xu Sihai interrogated his people, they knew nothing. Regarding how the disappearance had occurred or when it had happened, they had no answer to give.

nXu Sihai could not hold his stance and waved his horsewhip in the air causing the air to crack. He growled: “Who are you, pretending to be a ghost and scaring the hell out of us, if you have the skill, then come out, and we will fight with a real sword!”

nNo matter how fierce he acted or yelled, the darkness around him remained silent. Besides the sounds of the night wind, there was only the sounds of annoying insects.

n“Coward, coward!” Xu Sihai muttered curses to himself, “Let’s move on; I will not believe that ghosts exists”

nFinally, the path widened before them. A group of the Xu all urged the horses to go faster as if an evil devil was chasing them. Each and everyone of them rode ahead as if all of their lives depended on it.

nThey goaded their horses to run at full speed with all its might, and fifteen minutes later, the geographical region and the map started to match each other.

n“Stop.” Xu Sihai waved his horsewhip and picked up the map to check. It should indeed be their destination.

nJust when he was about to speak, he suddenly felt something was wrong. A wave of cold instantly travelled down his spine, and every hair on his body was standing on its ends.

nHis instincts were telling him that something was wrong. As for how the things were wrong, he did not have the courage to look back.”

nBut, he must look back.

nWhen he looked back, Xu Sihai almost fell from his horse.

nOne, two, three, four…

nAll the horses followed him in good shape and none of it were missing. However, those people that were on the horse had vanished!

nIt seemed as if the people had disappeared without a trace from this world in an instant.

nWhere were they?

nA Cold sweat started to emerge from Xu Sihai’s forehead, and he looked around searching for some hint. He knew he was in trouble, and this trouble would be a terrifying one.

nHe waved the horsewhip a few times in the midair to bolster himself. Then, he growled: “Who, who did this? Whether you are human or ghost, show yourself! If I, Xu Sihai am scared of you, I am not a man.”

nAlthough he was speaking this way, inwardly, the fear in his heart could not be so easily concealed with a few foul words.

n“You are not scared? That’s good.”

nA cold voice from nowhere suddenly came for behind Xu Sihai.

nXu Sihai immediately turned around. He only saw a flash of light and a person appeared.

nThis person was tall, with a handsome face but looked young. His pair of bright eyes appeared especially in depth in the night sky. He crossed his hands over his chest and looked at Xu Sihai as if he was a dead man.

nXu Sihai drew a sharp breath and said: “It’s you?”

n“It’s me.”

n“You… Why are you here?”

n“And why are you here?”

nThis person was indeed Qin Wushuang who had rushed over quickly. Qin Wushuang was familiar with the region and did not waste any time when he had charged here. He came up with an idea and decided to toy with Xu Sihai. Like cutting wheat, he had harvested Xu Sihai’s followers one after another.

nXu Sihai could not find the words to speak as he roared: “Why do you care if I’m here? Go die, kid!”

n“You want to use violence?” Qin Wushuang extended his hand with a cold sneer and grabbed the horsewhip, “Violence. Xu Sanli could not do it, and you, not a chance.”

nAs soon as he finished speaking, he exerted some power and dragged Xu Sihai from the horse casually. He planted his feet on Xu Sihai’s chest.

nThen, he twirled the horsewhip and turned Xu Sihai into a glutinous rice and choice of filling wrapped in leaves.

nHe threw him on the horse’s back. He led the pack of horses and headed toward the fish mill of the Qin family.

nIf people of the Xu had such great trouble in searching for the Qin’s lands, then most likely, the other team who had gone to that distant fish mill would still be lost.

n…

nOn the street of Eastwood Town, fire lit up the sky. This team of the Xu had succeeded in setting all the shops of the Qin family on fire. Flames soared to the heavens.

nJust when they were about to set fire at the oil mill, they suddenly heard a large group of people coming from the Qin house.

nIn this Xu team, a Warrior at Stage Two of the Genuine Force led them. When he saw Qin Lianshan leading the team himself, he was already frightened. He immediately ordered his people to retreat.

nFortunately, Qin Lianshan was focussed on putting out the fire. He immediately gave the order when he saw flames soaring to the sky: “Block our supply and stop the spread of the fire. To those things that are already aflame, let it go, there’s no need to save it. Don’t let it hurt the people!”

nQin Lianshan felt gratified since the ancestor’s house was all right. He could bear these small damages from the shop. And people had already sent back him the news from the oil mill: “Patriarch, the oil mill is safe, it did not get attacked.”

nQin Lianshan nodded: “Good!”

nHe instantly went to order his subordinates to cut off the supply. Those unarmed people of the family also finished organizing themselves and came to put out the fire.

nThe Qin had a lot of servants, plus the Qin always had good reputations, all the civilians from the streets came to help to carry basins and water bucket.

nOne after another, the entire Eastwood Town learned about the fire at the shops of the Qin family. People all came from their homes to help…

nWhen Qin Lianshan saw this scene, his eyes became somewhat moist.

n“Hurry, put out the fire, put out the fire!”

nAt this time, another group of people arrived from across the street. Apparently, this group of people appeared a hundred times better trained than the average civilian. They were indeed, the other Humble Class of the Eastwood Town—The Hu family, Hu Ziyan had also come.

nIt was a signal, a very distinct message.

nThe Hu family had recognized the full social status the Qin had at Eastwood Town. They had decided to follow them!

nRegardless of the size of the fire, it was finally put out by the combined efforts of the people

nFeeling touched, Qin Lianshan watched this emotional scene and cupped his hands in a salute to the people around him: “Everyone, big favors are never repaid with only a word of thanks. This favor, I will remember it. Someday, I will host a banquet at the Qin house, and everyone, please come!”

nRoar!

n“Long live the Qin!”

nRoars of cheering reverberated to the sky in Eastwood Town.

n“I just wondered how things are going on Qin Wushuang’s end” Qin Lianshan mused to himself.

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